By LEIGH HORNBECK Staff writer

Published 1:49 pm, Friday, November 5, 2010

BALLSTON SPA -- Two men in their 20s and a 19-year-old woman all driven by drug addiction are responsible for 60 or more burglaries in four counties, Saratoga County District Attorney James Murphy III said Friday.

Murphy said he expects the list of charges to grow and the investigation to net more suspects.

Irvine was the first arrested. Murphy said a 62-year-old woman came home from the gym and was fixing herself a snack in the kitchen when she heard someone upstairs. Thinking it was her husband, she wasn't alarmed until she heard someone come down the stairs and go out the front door. She thought it was her husband leaving without saying goodbye to her, Murphy said. The woman followed Irvine and gave police his description.

Police revealed little of the investigation that followed, except to say Irvine's arrest led to the arrest of Baril and Thomas. Baril ran from police when he was approached and hurt an officer slightly when he was arrested.

Irvine and Baril are in county jail after their arraignment. Thomas was released into a drug treatment program, Murphy said.

Murphy said the threesome knew each other from high school. The burglaries -- in-and-out jobs that police doubt were preceded by much planning -- were done so they would have money to buy heroin. The defendants allegedly took a pillowcase into each home and stole jewelry and other items that would fit inside the pillowcase. Some of the property has been recovered, Murphy said. Sites included Albany, Schenectady and Montgomery counties, officials said.